Smartphones are gradually adopting the power to connect to satellites for emergency calls and messages with the benefit of certain hardware features. The iPhone 14 was the first phone to offer emergency communications via satellite connectivity. Now, Samsung is expected to bring a satellite feature to its Galaxy smartphones in the future.
According to a tweet from Elon Musk, Starlink achieved peak download speeds for its satellite-to-phone service using a Samsung Android smartphone. It was then disclosed that the test was performed operating the Galaxy S21 Ultra and in cooperation with a cellular service provider in the United States.
Upcoming Galaxy Smartphones to Feature SOS Satellite Connectivity
Musk said in a tweet that SpaceX achieved a peak download speed of 17 MB/s directly from the satellite to an unmodified Samsung Android phone. Checking the serial number of the phone mentioned in the screenshot revealed that the phone is likely the Phantom Silver edition of Verizon’s Galaxy S21 Ultra (128GB).
It is worth noting that this phone does not have any special hardware to connect to satellite for calls and messages. To recall, this testing started a few months ago when the company partnered with T-Mobile for a satellite-to-phone telecommunications service for calls and messages.
After the iPhone 14 launch, it was expected that Samsung would bring a similar feature with the Galaxy S23, but it never happened. Then this feature was also tested for Galaxy S24, but this feature was not found in that phone also. Samsung says it will wait for the ecosystem to mature before introducing such a feature.
In the future, all smartphones including Galaxy with satellite can make calls, send/receive texts, and even get Internet connectivity without costly cellular tower infrastructure. It can bring 4G/LTE and 5G connectivity to remote areas where there would otherwise be no connectivity infrastructure.
